Tottenham Hotspur parted ways with first-team right-back, Kieran Trippier, this summer after he endured a pretty poor season in a Lilywhite shirt.
While Tripps was one of the standout stars for England at the Russia World Cup, he was unable to replicate anything close to that form in the Premier League.
He eventually made a £22m switch to Atletico Madrid in the summer transfer window and has never looked back, playing a starring role in Spain.
However, it has now been revealed that Trippier attempted to directly contact his old manager, Mauricio Pochettino, this week to clear the air.
In a recent interview, the right-back claimed he heard rumours that Spurs wanted to sell him and that they got rid of him at the wrong time, as well as commenting on his relationship with Poch (Standard).
Trippier said: “I was hearing a few rumours that I would be going at the end of the season, but it wasn’t the right time to speak to the manager or the club about it,” he said. “That was playing on my mind for a few months, which it would you know, you are hearing things. I tried to block it out. I tried to do my best at Tottenham last season, I wasn’t going into games not trying.
“I spoke to my wife and I spoke to my brother, who I speak to all the time, and decided to pull the manager in pre-season to see what was going on.
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“I had a conversation with the manager, a meeting with the chairman to see what my future was and I didn’t get the impression that they wanted to keep me. It is football. It happens.
“I tried to speak to the chairman about it and I didn’t really get an answer. I spoke to the manager about his plans and I didn’t get a yes and I didn’t get a no. So, you get the impression.
“It’s disappointing. I gave everything for the club and I wanted to stay, I had another couple of years left, but everything happens for a reason.
“Me and the manager didn’t leave on bad terms, he has done a lot for me and I respect him highly.”
When Harry Kane returned from the England camp this week, where he spent time with Trippier, he informed the Spurs boss that his ex-player had attempted to contact him via text.
Poch said (Sky Sports): “I didn’t see [Trippier’s comments], but I heard about it. I can explain how I feel. We had a conversation where he explained he was going to move to Atletico Madrid – nothing more.
“Yesterday (Wednesday) when Harry Kane arrived back he said to me ‘did you get Kieran’s text?’ I said ‘no’ because I changed my number. Maybe because he doesn’t have the new number.
“Because he believes his words were twisted – I don’t know nothing more. Kieran translated this message to me through Harry Kane. He wanted to tell me. But I’ve got no problem with Kieran.
“In football, decisions happen and players move from one club to another. What happened, happened and we need to move on and he needs to think of Atletico Madrid and be happy there.
“There’s no point to talk about if something happened or didn’t happen. The reality is one reality, but who is right in all this process? There’s no point in talking. But I keep very good memories from him.
“After the summer he came to see me, he asked me for a meeting and said ‘gaffer, I think I have a good possibility and for different reasons, I would like to accept the offer from Atletico Madrid’.
“We signed him from Burnley, and he was worried about whether he would play or not.
“I said to him we’d provide the best platform and a year-and-a-half later he was in the starting eleven, the national team played in the World Cup and he’s now at Atletico Madrid.
“He was a second division player when we signed him, so we feel proud to help him achieve his dream and reach a level he wasn’t at before he arrived here.
“It wasn’t a conversation – you want me? Or you don’t want me? It was so clear.
“He played the final, when I had plenty of different options, with Serge Aurier, Davinson Sanchez, Kyle Walker-Peters. But he played the final. My actions talk more than my mouth.
“He didn’t ask me nothing – only communicated whether the club was going to accept the offer. Nothing more.”
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